Considering the Short-Term and Long-Term Impact of Products and Services on the Planet

Abstract

Stakeholders require organisations to meet all ethical standards in every aspect of their operations including marketing. This has led to consumers becoming sensitive to the violation of expected ethical standards by organisations. Hence, consumers give precedence to brands that are environmentally friendly in the production and deployment of the brand. The increased customer sensitivity to environmental issues is the realisation of the negative effects of mismanaged environment. For example, the activities of eco-unfriendly businesses affected the human and economic survival of some communities (see Gomis & Sodji, 2021; Naz, Chowdhury, Mishra, & Gupta, 2016). In realisation of the importance of being eco-friendly in the entire value chain of a product, this chapter considers the importance of adhering to ethical standards required from the conceptualisation, consumption and disposal of materials in organisation's production system. The chapter began by laying out the consequences of eco-unfriendly behaviours and the human and business activities that create the problems. It documented the short-term and long-term consequences of unethical behaviour of businesses, and ways to mitigate or reduce such consequences. Corporate social responsibility was presented as a mindset that is aimed at maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem while deriving economic benefit from it. The chapter concluded with the case study of a disguised company that believes that ‘money can grow on trees’ and thus invested in the recovery of the damage caused by deforestation.

Citation

Ethelbert Amah, O. and Jones, S. (2022), "Considering the Short-Term and Long-Term Impact of Products and Services on the Planet", Ogunyemi, K. and Burgal, V. (Ed.) Products for Conscious Consumers, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 135-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80262-837-120221008